A proposal made today by a Hamilton County commissioner involving sewer work related to the city of Cincinnati's planned streetcar system won't harm or delay the project, city staffers said.

That's because the motion introduced by County Commissioner Chris Monzel, a streetcar foe, would only affect additional improvements sought by the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD), said Chris Eilerman, the city's streetcar project manager. The city already has allocated $3 million of its own money to relocate manholes needed for the streetcar project and do some of MSD's other improvements.

A prominent, nonpartisan group today announced its opposition to Issue 48, the proposed amendment to Cincinnati's charter that would block the creation of a streetcar system for at least a decade.

The League of Women Voters of the Cincinnati Area issued a press release today stating it opposes the amendment because the wording is so broadly written that it would prevent the development of any passenger rail system including light rail or commuter rail.

The city of Cincinnati is planning to restripe a section of Martin Luther King Drive between Reading Road and Victory Parkway and would like input from cyclists who commute into Clifton and Walnut Hills. Queen City Bike today sent out an email asking anyone who regularly uses the route to fill out an online survey to help planners determine which infrastructure improvements to make.

Greater Cincinnati made the list of the Top 10 cities in the United States with the easiest and most affordable commutes.

In a ranking complied byKiplinger.com and released today, the Cincinnati-Middletown Metropolitan Statistical Area ranked no. 7. To make the list, an area had to have a population of at least 1 million people and a low congestion cost, which the site defines asa measurement of wasted time and fuel calculated by the Texas Transportation Institute.

As additional information becomes known, an allegedly impartial poll about Cincinnati's streetcar project touted byThe Enquirerbecomes more suspect. A person who took the poll says the questions seemed like “propaganda,” while the pollster violated the accepted standards of the polling industry.

Now that the agency that operates Cincinnati's Metro bus system has rejected a state fact-finder's recommendations about a labor contract with its workers, the union says it might go on strike.

The board that governs the Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) voted 11-1 Tuesday to reject the fact-finder's recommendations, calling them too expensive and vague. The agency's contract with its 676 bus drivers, maintenance and support employees expired a day earlier, although that agreement remains in effect until a new deal is reached.

Trustees who oversee Cincinnati's Metro bus system voted today to reject a state fact-finder's recommendations for a new labor contract.

The Southwest Ohio Regional Transit Authority (SORTA) said the fact-finder's recommendations were too expensive and vague. The agency's contract with its 676 bus drivers, maintenance and support employees expired Monday.